It's all about perfecting a natural look. Dynamic Edge LED backlighting with local dimming delivers pitch-black night scenes and illuminates bright
scenes that pop with vibrant color. Rather than illuminating the entire screen, contrast is boosted in just the right areas for a more realistic picture.

Agree with those saying those speakers are a horrid design decision. Let's hope this isnt the model going forward. To me, it seems like they like to add "features" like this to 1st gen to justify the cost of the set and throw everything at/on it.

I actually really like the new design - it looks much much better to me than my 929.

OMG....... Well, I can certainly see why if you like the look of the proposed new 900a Series that Sony is now showing for their new TV's, you would definitely NOT like the look of the 929 Series, or even the 950 Series for that matter. Both of the previous Sony XBR TV's are completely "clean" with NO "add ons". My 929 is mounted on the wall and shows NO visible wiring...........looking very much like a clean piece of glass mounted on the wall. Surround Sound speakers are very much separately concealed or down played aesthetically from the TV panel. If you were not listening to SRS you might not even know it was installed as part of the TV.

I'm somewhat amazed that someone that likes the look of the 900a would have even purchased a 929. The "boom" box look is and has been available from various manufacturers for a number of years. The clean look of the 929 or 950 is FAR more rare.

In my case, I waited until Sony removed all speakers, trim, etc., before I purchased mine. Frankly, I think they are going entirely in the WRONG direction with the new design. YMMV!!

OMG....... Well, I can certainly see why if you like the look of the proposed new 900a Series that Sony is now showing for their new TV's, you would definitely NOT like the look of the 929 Series, or even the 950 Series for that matter. Both of the previous Sony XBR TV's are completely "clean" with NO "add ons". My 929 is mounted on the wall and shows NO visible wiring...........looking very much like a clean piece of glass mounted on the wall. Surround Sound speakers are very much separately concealed or down played aesthetically from the TV panel. If you were not listening to SRS you might not even know it was installed as part of the TV.

I'm somewhat amazed that someone that likes the look of the 900a would have even purchased a 929. The "boom" box look is and has been available from various manufacturers for a number of years. The clean look of the 929 or 950 is FAR more rare.

In my case, I waited until Sony removed all speakers, trim, etc., before I purchased mine. Frankly, I think they are going entirely in the WRONG direction with the new design. YMMV!!

Best Regards,

GPHVIDEO

I like my 929 a lot - it looks beautiful. But I absolutely love the new 900 - the speakers only add character I hope they will keep this design for the next couple of iterations, when I upgrade to 4K

I like my 929 a lot - it looks beautiful. But I absolutely love the new 900 - the speakers only add character I hope they will keep this design for the next couple of iterations, when I upgrade to 4K

Unfortunately, judging by what I have seen with Sony and the other manufacturers in the past, I think it would be safe to say the boom box look will be hear to stay. You should have no problem finding something that looks near the 900a in the future. However, by contrast, I feel you will be quite lucky to see the simplicity of the 929 / 950 available thru Sony or any other manufacturer for that matter in the future............... The "clean" look seems to be much harder to find for some reason.

Personally, I MUCH prefer the 929 / 950 look and was quite sorry to see them go back to the boom box look. YMMV.........

I'm wondering if the 65 will also display some minor vertical banding. I would have initially thought no if you asked me a month or two ago, but now that there have been a ton of complaints about the 84 inch LG 4K with noticeable vertical banding, and even some reports of banding being present on the 84 inch Sony one as well, I can't justify spending $7,000 on a TV that displays banding, regardless of 4K or not. I'm still having issues justifying paying the $5,000 I did for the 65HX950 and its minor banding... but then I remember how bad the Samsungs banding is and all is good.

I cannot tell you how many times I did not buy the next XBR because of the Dumbo speakers... UGH!!

I simply can't accept the premise that people will buy a top shelf, state of the art, picture technology and accept alarm clock speakers for their sound system. Maybe they watch too many movies on their iphones and that's all they know anymore? Anyway, I'm thrilled with our 929 and was looking forward to the next technology jump. Guess this Sony is not a contender for the next step...

I saw this TV at my local Best Buy in the Magnolia section. It's playing a loop of clips and has no price tag near it. The PQ is absolutely gorgeous, but I didn't analyze it too much or anything. I figure if I spent more than 1 minute watching it I would want to find ways to afford it, can't let that happen.

I just saw these two sets at the Sony Store in Palo Alto (Stanford Plaza Shopping Mall).

My background: I haven't done a lot of HDTV evaluating in the past 3 years, and I'm not the biggest PQ snob. However, I love watching Blu Rays on my retina MacBook Pro, with good upscaling courtesy of VLC.

Impressions:

Glare and reflections are bad. During a dark scene, it's like looking into a full-length mirror. (On the plus side, this encourages getting back on a fitness regimen.)

Colors have a lot of pop. It isn't OLED, but it's a whole lot better than the 84" 4K set also on display.

Vertical banding was very apparent in some of the demo scenes.

In my opinion, if you're set on the 55" size, don't bother with paying extra for 4K - it is a VERY marginal improvement.

For 65" TVs and above, 4K pays off, to the extent the source material (lens quality and focus) are up to snuff.

That's my report. In 10 years, when I upgrade my almost-never-on TV set, I'll get a 4K set, to be sure!

I just saw these two sets at the Sony Store in Palo Alto (Stanford Plaza Shopping Mall).

My background: I haven't done a lot of HDTV evaluating in the past 3 years, and I'm not the biggest PQ snob. However, I love watching Blu Rays on my retina MacBook Pro, with good upscaling courtesy of VLC.

Impressions:

Glare and reflections are bad. During a dark scene, it's like looking into a full-length mirror. (On the plus side, this encourages getting back on a fitness regimen.)

Colors have a lot of pop. It isn't OLED, but it's a whole lot better than the 84" 4K set also on display.

Vertical banding was very apparent in some of the demo scenes.

In my opinion, if you're set on the 55" size, don't bother with paying extra for 4K - it is a VERY marginal improvement.

For 65" TVs and above, 4K pays off, to the extent the source material (lens quality and focus) are up to snuff.

That's my report. In 10 years, when I upgrade my almost-never-on TV set, I'll get a 4K set, to be sure!

It's all about biology. Our eyes can only see so much detail, so when viewing these televisions from proper couch distance, we won't be able to tell a difference between 1080p and 4K. The difference is only really apparent when moving close to the screens where you can see the pixels. It's that reason why 1440p monitors look much better than 1080p ones, because we tend to sit closer to our monitors than we do our televisions.

There must be a increase of customers purchasing high end FPs without a HT system. I for one wish they could be removed

You'd be surprised how many people AREN'T willing to buy anything for sound when they buy a new TV. Especially people buying stuff anywhere in the $2000+ range. The most common responses I get from customers are "Doesn't the TV already have speakers?" or "I'm not into all that theater stuff." To which I usually politely counter that a soundbar is definitely a step up from the built-in crap on most TVs without going overboard. Still, many go with the tin cans built into the TV, which I'll never understand. Some people are just not like us here at AVS. That being said, I'm not a huge fan of the speakers, but if they'e anything like the ones on the 84" they'll sound fairly decent -- which is good for those not wanting to go external. Just too bad they're not removable like they are on the 84".